San Francisco police should hire civilian investigators

Police Chief George Gascon listens to Mayor Gavin Newsom speak to the news media after a private swearing-in ceremony in Newsom's office in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009.

Police Chief George Gascon listens to Mayor Gavin Newsom speak to the news media after a private swearing-in ceremony in Newsom's office in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

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Police Chief George Gascon listens to Mayor Gavin Newsom speak to the news media after a private swearing-in ceremony in Newsom's office in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009.

Police Chief George Gascon listens to Mayor Gavin Newsom speak to the news media after a private swearing-in ceremony in Newsom's office in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

San Francisco police should hire civilian investigators

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Serious crime may be down by 10 percent in San Francisco, but it doesn't feel that way when your car window is smashed and the glove box rifled. Or when the apartment door is kicked in and your valuables are stolen.

Worse yet, busy police put a low priority on taking a report or examining the damage. If the perpetrator has vanished and no one is in immediate danger, it may be hours before the law arrives. It's a frustrating experience for both cops and victims.

San Francisco Police Chief George Gascón has a no-brainer solution. In next year's budget, he plans to hire 15 civilian investigators. Each will be trained to interview victims, take photos, and hunt for prints and DNA traces. Residents reporting these low-level crimes can even make appointments. Not exactly Nordstrom's personal shopper, but much better than the buzz-off service most people now receive.

These "officers lite" come with other advantages. Under the $955,000 trial program, the civilian hires will be paid nearly half the salary of a typical officer and won't be enrolled in the city's costly public safety pension system. In a city suffering through a lean budget year and weighing new taxes on the November ballot, even a bedrock service like police has to think about cost cutting.

The new investigators will spring regular badge-and-gun police for more visible street patrols, a key strategy cited as the reason for the recent crime drop. Who knows, Gascón says, more thorough report writing and evidence gathering could produce more arrests. The present methods aren't paying off.

"People aren't getting the level of service they expect," he said. At the same time, criminals "are escaping through the cracks," he said. The proposal has worked well enough elsewhere, including Mesa, Ariz., where Gascón was police chief until taking the San Francisco post last year.

There is a measure of grumbling over the proposal from the city police union. Seeing a new breed of employee on its turf, the union has complained that evidence may be handled improperly and court cases may suffer.

Gascón acknowledges these worries but calls the objections "traditional labor concerns" that he will take up with union leaders. He doesn't see any legal downside. Civilian personnel, ranging from medical examiners to evidence experts, are a longtime part of the law enforcement network and testify regularly in court.

The doubts haven't stalled the plan so far. San Francisco's cat-and-dog political enemies - Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors - have blessed the program by leaving it in the police budget. Gascón hopes the civilian workers, once hired and trained, may be on the job a year from now.

There's another message in this plan: Change is coming to the city's police force. Gascón is clearing away the cobwebs created by old practices and bringing in new methods. He's pushed an enforcement-wary city to accept Taser stun guns. He's sending more police investigators to station houses. Next up will be an update of the force's record-keeping system to give officers quicker answers on fingerprint matches and suspect records.

Police work needs updating and can stand a dose of efficiency-minded management. It's exactly why Gascón was hired from the outside. San Francisco is getting what it ordered.